Govt to monitor stockists, wholesalers from today

KATHMANDU, AUg 27: 

The government is planning to monitor the stock of food items with stockists and wholesalers to control the price hike. Monitoring agencies will start monitoring ‘big fishes’ from tomorrow, said secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Lal Mani Joshi in an interaction here today. 

All monitoring agencies will work together, he said, adding that the team will take help from other agencies as and when required. Food prices have been rising since the last two months despite sufficient stock of rice, wheat, pulses, edible oils and sugar. The price of the commodities have risen by up to 30 per cent during the period. 

“It is due to black marketing, so the government will punish them according to the law,” he said. According to Joshi, the government will also use the intervention mechanism along with market monitoring. “State enterprises have sufficient stock of rice, wheat, pulses, edible oils and sugar, therefore we will be selling them in the market through strict monitoring,” he added. 

Officials of National Trading Corporation, Nepal Food Corporation, and Salt Trading 

Corporation echoed Joshi, saying they will start supplying significant quantities of rice, wheat, pulses, edible oils and sugar in the market. 

“We have sufficient stock and we will start selling food items from tomorrow,” said general manager of the food corporation Hari Narayan Saha. However, he did not disclose the amount. 

Similarly, National Trading and Salt Trading have promised to supply adequate amount of sugar. “We are importing 20,000 metric tonnes of sugar from India, so there will not be any sugar scarcity during the festival season,” said sales chief of Salt Trading Corporation Bhagawati Rana. 

The major festivals — Dashain and Tihar — fall in September-November. The demand for sugar increases significantly during the period, especially in Tihar — the festival of sweets and lights. Meat is the major consumed item during Dashain. 

Retailers said that there do not have any role in hiking the price of food items. “There is a significant price hike in the market, but retailers do not have any role in it,” claimed president of Retailers Association Nepal Pavitra Bajracharya. Retailers sell goods to consumers at a profit of five per cent to 10 per cent, he said, adding that the price hike cannot be controlled without market intervention. 

He asked the government to maintain at least 10 per cent stock of essential food items 

to intervene in the market in times of crisis. Without adequate supply of items whose prices have been hiked, prices will not fall. 

According to him, the government should promote a system of selling directly to retailers to control the price. The state enterprises must apply this method to control price, added Bajracharya.

Source: THT